Makhelat Hamercaz Makes Music in Middlesex County

A choir of Middlesex County residents will be making beautiful music in the area this fall.

Makhelat Hamercaz, which translates into "The Choir of the Center," is an adult Jewish choir that performs traditional, cultural and religious Jewish pieces in English, Yiddish and Hebrew and Ladino.

Cantor Anna West Ott said the nonprofit choir began in 2003 as a partnership between Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, and Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple of New Brunswick.

The idea was to fill a void, as no centralized Jewish choir existed at the time for the Middlesex County area.

Ott, and Congregation Neve Shalom Hazzan Sheldon Levin created the choir, and have had a consistent roster of about 40 to 50 vocalists each year.

The choir performs about six times a year at festivals, area retirement homes, libraries and hospitals.

Ott said the choir recruits all kinds of singers, not just professionally trained musicians. Applicants are asked to have some choir experience, but they do not have to know how to read music, or Hebrew.

Despite being formed by representatives of two synagogues, the choir is not affiliated with any particular house of worship, she said.

People come and go, depending on their own personal strengths, she said.

"If the music is too hard, they don't stay in," she said.

For some members of the group, the choir serves as a "Jewish Connection," Ott said, to both their community and their faith.

"Music is a very powerful voice in terms of expressing one's spirituality," she said.

At a recent rehearsal, the group harmonized through several songs, including a food-laden ode to Kiddush, a blessing said during Shabbat.

"It's going to be a magnificent year," Levin said to the group at the close of the song.

Members of the choir said they enjoy being a part of it because the group is very supportive of each other.

"What makes it so special is the people," said longtime member Roz Shaw.

The choir will perform at the following locations during its current season:

• 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Reform Church of Highland Park's Thanksgiving Interfaith Service.
• 3 p.m. Dec. 11 at Stein Assisted Living Residence in Somerset.
• 3 p.m. Jan. 22 at the South Brunswick Library.
• 3 p.m. March 4 at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick.
• 3 p.m. March 11 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
• 3 p.m. May 20 at the East Brunswick Library.

For more information on Makhelat Hamercaz, visit www.Mercazchoir.org.

To hear samples of music performed by Makhelat Hamercaz, click here.